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ZOMG ANOTHER STORY ABOUT JELLY BEAN!
So here's the deal: An ASUS VP dropped the following quote to TechRadar:
"ASUS is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update."
Dunno if ASUS is any closer to Google than any of the other manufacturers, but it did get one of the first Ice Cream...

There's been a lot of talk about Ubuntu since they let it out that they're working on some goodies for Android devices, and it got us to thinking. In the real world (you know, that one that exists outside the Internet we hear so much about) Linux holds a tiny sliver of consumer market share, forecasted at less that two percent for 2012 according to Gartner by way of Wikipedia. Compare that to...

ZOMG A STORY ABOUT JELLY BEAN! But here's the thing. It's out of our favorite (not really) Taiwanese manufacturer rag, Digitimes. It's also as obvious as it is ridiculous. Here's the gist:
Android 5.0 Jelly Bean (neither the number nor the nickname is official, remember) is said to:
Launch in the second quarter. We dunno about "launch," but, yeah. Google IO is June 27-29. June is in the...

Google, having already explained to the boys and girls inside the Beltway that they don't need to go all Chicken Little over its upcoming new consolidated privacy policy, today took aim at Redmond, Wash., for (if you can believe it) acting even more childish. More specifically, Google responded to claims from Microsoft (among others) that it's evil, it's only out to sell your information and...

If you've ever put a custom ROM on your Android phone (or are looking to do so), chances are you've used ROM Manager. And it's getting spruced up in its latest version. Things are a little prettier, a little more friendly. And that sort of touch makes the easiest way to install custom ROMs even easier. Download links are after the break. And remember that you've gotta be rooted for any of this.

The Verizon Samsung Fascinate is set to get another maintenance update over the next few weeks -- no, it's not Froyo -- and we got a sneak peak at an early version. GPS has been targeted, and it's looking better in early testing. Signal strength has been addressed. Also, the backlight settings are a little better, which helps the capacitive buttons stay lit longer. That's just the tip of the...

With the release of Android 2.3 Gingerbread imminent (I can almost smell it!), everyone is talking about the new phone OS, and what cool features might be coming along with. We're looking forward to seeing how some things that needed changing were handled, and I'm itching to have a good look at the UI changes, no matter how subtle they may be. But if we have a look back at Google I/O in May,...

Better late than never, the latest Android version numbers (ending July 15) show the number of phones with Eclair (Android 2.1) and Froyo (Android 2.2) now at 58.8 percent, up from 54.9 percent for the previous two weeks. Phones running Cupcake (Android 1.5) fell from 21.3 to 18.9 percent, and Donut phones (Android 1.6) are down a little more than one percentage point to 22.1 percent. March on,...

It's not much of a secret, judging by all the talk in our Evo 4G forums, that a lot of you folks out there are getting ready to jump one ship or another to join the ranks of Android with the Sprint Evo 4G (as well as other recent Android phones). So let's hear it: Which OS did/are you ditching for Android?
What platform are you leaving to join Android and the Evo 4G?survey software

Another couple of weeks, and more new numbers regarding Android platform percentages. For the two weeks ending June 1, we now see 45.1 percent of Android phones running Eclair -- Android 2.1. That's up from 32.4 percent for the two weeks ending May 17. The Cupcake (Android 1.5) and Donut (Android 1.6) versions continue to wane, thanks to the HTC Droid Eris and Hero finally getting their long...

Andy Rubin's "it's not fragmentation, it's legacy" line at Google IO has sparked a pretty good debate, but now we're starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel for problem of Android's furious pace. Speaking to the Silicon Valley Mercury News' Troy Wolverton, Rubin said the rate of major updates to Android may settle down to an annual event. Said Rubin:"From our internal 0.8, we got to 1...

While you're winding down from your three-day weekend, kick your feet up and join us after the break as we re-watch the Android 2.2 keynote address from Google I/O, where Google first showed us the major features in Froyo. Then head back here for our breakdown of said features, and our own demos. Dunno about you, but it's even better watching in a second time.

Bloomberg reports that HTC is looking into developing their own mobile operating system. According to HTC CFO, Cheng Hui-ming:“We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify"An HTC device that combines their typically excellent hardware with HTC developed software seems like the logical endgame for HTC. Heck, they've already put their own Sense UI on top of many Android...

There's been absolutely no doubt that Android's usage share has skyrocketed in the last year, and here's another example. Gartner released figures today that show a 3.4 percentage point climb over 2008. That said, it's the 2009-2010 numbers that we're really going to want to look at, as the first Android device (the HTC Dream or T-Mobile G1) wasn't even available until late October of that year...

Like we said before, it's going to take some time before Fennec aka Firefox Mobile actually gets on Android. But at least it looks like porting Fennec over to Android is progressing rather nicely--they actually got their first page load. According to the developer:Mouse events sort of work, toplevel windows sort of work, keyboard doesn't work yet but shouldn't be hard to hook up.They're actually...

If you're interested in getting to know Google Chrome OS, Google's latest development in re-creating how we use computers, the videos after the jump are a great start. The funny thing about Google Chrome OS is that it's ambitious in what it's trying to do but relatively tame in its execution. The idea of Google Chrome OS centers around creating a browser as the Operating System, which makes some...

If you're a little bit confused on what exactly MOTOBLUR is, don't worry we've got you covered. MOTOBLUR is billed as the first and only solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more--from sources such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail, other e-mail--and deliver them to your phone. Think of it as a Super Social Network on your smartphone.MOTOBLUR includes the use of live...

We know that the iPod Touch has become wildly popular in part because it's seen as an iPhone without the phone. An iPod Touch gives you most of the functionality of an iPhone without being bogged down by an expensive data contract. Is there a similar device on Android? There is now.Meet the Creative Zii Egg Plaszma (yeah, that's a mouthful). This iPod touch competitor has some pretty amazing...

The rumors have always pointed towards Google releasing an Operating System but we just never really took it seriously. We figured Android is a desktop-class OS and many netbook manufacturers have taken a liking to it, so Google needn't bring another OS into the market. Oh how wrong we were.The Google Chrome OS, an open source platform (yay), is designed for x86 and ARM based netbooks, laptops...

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